Community?

Community?

Peter Gilet

It seems to me that we have spent the last forty years reforming
our liturgy with the assumption that we were rational beings merely
doing the logical thing. In fact, in my view, as creatures of a
cold and individualistic society, we have been driven by an
unbalanced thirst for human community that has totally vitiated our
efforts.

Instead of acknowledging that we needed psychiatric help, some
sort of group therapy, parish programs like Grow to enable
us to relate properly with each other, we have acted out our
fantasies of a vibrant, warm faith community in a sort of cargo
cult. If we go throught the motions and keep grinning and shaking
hands, the Mass will provide us with what we want.

Naturally if anyone, particularly a hyper-conservative,
questions this fantasy, he is hated with pathological
intensity.

For that is what some of our current liturgy is. A pathology.
Hopefully the new English translation will bring a generous amount
of healing to our condition and we can get back to actually
worshipping God in our Mass.